Doefee



(No Model.)

J. HOFFMAN.

LEAD 0R GRAYON HOLDER.

No. 267,528. Patented Nov. 14, 1882.

WITNESSES llNiTnD STATES PATnNT Ottica.

JOSEPH HOFFMAN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO. JOSEPH REOKEN- l DORFER, OF SAME PLAGE.

LEAD OR C RAYON HOLDER.

SPECIFICATION forming' part of Letters Patent No. 267,528, dated November 14, 1882,

Application filed May 9, 1882. (No model.)

To all tti/Loin it may concern.:

Be it known that I, Jossrn HOFFMAN, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new land useful Improvements in Lead or Crayon Holders, ot' which the i'ollowing is a specitication.

My invention relates to that kind ot' lead and crayon holder which is provided with a stopgage,77 arranged and operating to limit the extent to which the lead when released can drop or protrude from the pencil, as set vl'orth in` my application for Letters Patent ot' the United States already tiled, and bearing the Serial No. 55,267; and it has particular reference to that species ot' said holders, also described in my said application, in which is employed a stopgage adapted to be projected beyond the point or tip of the holder, and when thus projected to extend into or across the path ot' the lead so 2o as to intercept the point of the lead at a predetermined distance beyond the end ot' the holder. In the holder shown and described in my said application (Serial No. 55,267) the stopgage consists simply ofa single tongue or strip ot' light spring metal, bent or curved inwardly to some extent at its outer end, and formed or larranged so that this end, when the tongue is projected, will extend across the path which the lead would naturally follow in dropping` 3o ont from the holder. This device is simple and readily applied but while it is effective in most cases, the lead, owing to the looseness with which it tits in the lead-containing tube, or from other causes, will occasionally pass to one side ot and beyond the point of the stopgage. To remedy this objection, I have devised my present improvement, which consists in the employment of a stop-gage consisting of two or more tongues or strips so arranged 4o that when projected from the holder they will enter the path ofthe lead at the same distance from the tip or end of the holder, but from opposite sides, so that the lead, when it drops, no matter what may be its deviation from a straight path, will meet and be arrested by one or the other ot' the tongues that constitute the stop-gage. The tongues when projected form in effect a loop, into which the lead falls, and by which itis held.

5o rThe nature of my improvement and the manner in which the same is ormay becarried into eiiect will be readily understood by reference l to the accompanying drawings, in which Ihave Arepresented my improvement applied to that kind of lead and crayon holder known in the market as the Automatic Figure l is af; 'udinal central section ot' ahold/,1r embodj j; myilnproveuient with the parts in their normal pofif'ion. Figui! is alike section with both the grasping-jaws carried 6o. by the lead-containing tubel and the stop-gage jaw protruded from the sheath. Fig. 3 is a side elevation ot' the holder. In all these ligures the holder is reiiresented as broken or divided transversely ncar the middle. 6 A is the tubular sheath or case, and e the tip or nozzle thereof.

The lead grasping or clamping device consists of spring expanding jaws b, attached to or forming part ofthe longitudinally-movable 7o tube B, the rear end of which projects beyond the sheath, and is provided with a ilange or collar, c, between which and the sheath is coniined the comparatively-stift spiral retractingspring d, which acts to retract the jaws into the nozzle, and to thus cause them to close. The extent to which the tube can be retracted is limited by the lip or projection e upon it. The pencil thus far is similar in its general characteristics to the Automatic. 8o

Vithin tube B is another longitudinallymovable tube, C, whose rear end extends beyond tube B, and is surmounted by a cap, D, which serves as the pressure-cap, and be tween the head ofthe cap and ange c is conlined a second spring,f, which is lighter and more easily compressed than spring d, the result of this `arrangement being that when the cap D is pressed the tube O will tirst move forward alone for a certain distance, and then 9o the two tubes will move forward together, and when the cap afterward is relieved of' pressure the two tubes will move back together until lip e brings up against the sheath, and then the reaction otthe still compressed lighter springf will still further move back the inner tube to its first position. I employ the inner tube both as the stop-gage carrier and as the lead-receiver; but it will be understood that 'it is not indispensable to employ a Ico tube, as shown. I may use instead strips or pieces of other form, and it is not essential -that the stopgage carrier should work within the lead-containing tube. The arrangement shown, however, is preferred, as being on the whole the most convenient and easy ot' adaptation to existing forms of lead and cra-yon holders.

rlhe stop-gage shown in the drawings cousists of two narrow tongues or strips ot' light spring metal, g, which are placed diametrically opposite one another on the front end of the carrier-tube C, and are of suchlength that their front ends are normally flush or even with the front ends of the jaws b, and they are so placed as to be situated in the slots or intervals which separate these two jaws. Their outer ends are bent or curved inwardly to some extent, and are preferably so formed as to have a set, which will canse them normally to approach one another just a little closer than the thickness ot' the lead. I also prefer to provide each strip or tongue on its outer face with a cam-projection or swell,which, when the tonguesare projected to nearly their full extent from the holder, will, by coming in contact with the inner surface oi' the tapering tip or nozzle a., cause the tongues to close together or approach one another, so as to bring their opposite outer ends in contact, or nearly so, and thus form a loop into which the released lead can drop. The cam -projection or swell is obtained in this instance by bending the tongue or strip outwardly at thepoint It before it is tempered. The tongues, when released from contact of their cams, expand or spread apart to their normal position.

The foregoing details of construction of the tongues are nieeties butnot necessities. rlhey may manifestly be arranged and operated in other ways so as to be caused to project into or across the path ot' the lead at apredetermined distance in front of the holder.

The operation is as follows: \Vhen the pressure-cap is pushed forward the first effect is to advance the carrier-tube C so as to move the stopgage tongues to a position in advance of thejaws, the jaws Z) still remaining unmoved and closed. Further pressure causes the jaws and stop-gage, still occupying the same relative position, to move forward until the jaws expand, and the lead w can then drop out from the pencil into the loep formed by the tongues g, that constitute the stop-gage, as shown in Fig. 2. Pressure is now removed from the cap D, and the two tubes B C move back together until thejaws b close tight upon the lead, which renders the tube B incapable of further movement, after which the carrier-tube C moves still farther back, and in so doing retracts the stop-gage tongues to their original position.

It is desirable to have the stop-gage tongues made of tempered metal, and for this purpose I prefer to form them separately from the carrier-tube, making them part of a split annulus, y. After they are tempered the annulus is fitted around and closed on the front end of the carrier-tube and is held there by lips t' on the tube, which pass through slits in the annulus, and are then swaged down.

lt is manifest that it is not necessary to arrange the two tongues which constitute the stop-gage diametrically opposite one another, although this arrangement is on the whole the most desirable, and is also convenient in the respect that it permits them to lie in the spaces which intervene between the two grasping-jaws D. It is also manifest that more than two tongues or strips can be employed, if desired.

I also remark that the feature herein de scribed and illustrated, of a cam-projection or swell on the stop-gage adapted to be operated on by the sheath so as to cause the outer end of the stop-gage, when it is moved forward, to project into the path of the lead is applicable not only to the stop-gage herein described,but also te one composed of a single tongue or strip-c.g.,supposing only one tongue or strip g were used instead of two or more. The advantage gained by this feature is that I am thereby enabled to give the spring tongue or strip such a set as will cause it to tend to move, when not under control of its cam, far enough away from the lead to avoid injurious frictional contact therewith in returning from its projected to its normal position.

That I claim herein as et' my invention is l. In a lead or crayon holder, the combination, with a lead-containing case or sheath and a lead clamping or grasping and releasing mechanism, of a movable stop-gage composed of two or more oppositely-placed strips or tongues adapted to be projected beyond the point or tip ofthe holder, and when thus projected to extend into or across the path of the lead at a predetermined distance from the end ofthe holder, substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.

2. rIhe combination, with the sheath, lthe grasping-jaws, and the longitudinally-movable 'tube carrying said jaws, ot' the independentlymovable stop-gage carrier, and the stop-gage consisting of two oppositely-placed bent or hook-like spring strips or tongues located in the spaces or intervals between said jaws, and adapted, when projected from the pencil, to extend into or across the path of the pencil at a predetermined distance in front ot' thejaws, substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.

3. In a lead or crayon holder, the combination, with the lead grasping and releasing mechanism, ot' a longitudinally-movable stopgage, adapted to be projected from and retracted into the holder, and provided with a cam or swell acted on by the helder when the stop-gage moves forward, to compel the outer end ot' said gage to move into or across the path of the lead, substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.

In testimony whereofI have hereunto set my hand this 27th day of March, 1882.

JOSEPH HOFFMAN.

lVitnesses:

LEOPOLD ANsBAcI-Hiu, JOE W. SwAiNE.

IIO

XIS 

